I hope the injury to Louis Rogers is not severe. In any event, I hope that Josh Pelling is available for Saturday. We need him to help better organise the defence. Otherwise, I imagine we will start with last Saturday's initial eleven. If Corinthian Casuals are anything like their last year's side they will provide a stern test and give us an indication of how we might likely fare in the early part of the season.
Thankfully they shouldn't be as strong as last year as ex Casuals players Shaun Okojie scored the winning goal yesterday to put Aldershot top of the National.
Three very valuable points; secured through surviving a pretty torrid last 12 minutes, plus added time after Casuals pulled a goal back. Very anxious stuff knowing we were only a refereeing decision away from losing two points.
Certainly some positives from today. I thought we looked pretty solid at the back. (Where though was Ollie Rowe?) Michael Aziaya was my MoM. With Josh Pelling faultless. Good performances too from Lee Carey, Simon Johnson, Jack Dixon, and from Tom Vickers when he came on.
I thought Jack Harris battled away but, in truth, his contribution was limited to holding the ball up and laying it off. He played very deep throughout and I didn't see him anywhere near anything which could be thought of as a realistic goal chance. With Billy Medlock on the bench throughout the goals and chances came from midfield thanks to Jack Dixon and Simon Johnson. We got away with that in this game, we surely can't consistently.
Well like most supporters I would have taken a point today, even more so when I saw Rowe was out and Billy on the bench, so to win 2-1 has to be classed as a magnificent start to the season. Don't think we played that well but we were neat and tidy and had good spells throughout the game, particularly first half, but in general the game was pretty bitty, ruined at times by a whistle happy ref.
Thought the back four, and I include Tom Climpson, were fantastic and I thought Aziaya was MOM. And how nice to have the calming influence of Pelling behind them. Dixon had a super game, as did Johnno, surprise surprise. Carey did okay but thought Crutts was very quiet today.
My only slight disappointment was up top today? Rodari did okay and worked hard without ever causing any real problems and looked to really tire around the hour mark whilst I found Harris very frustrating. Again, tried hard but for a lump he just gets knocked off the ball too easy and seems to have lost a yard of pace, but it's one game in and hopefully form will come once he has some games behind him.
So a great start for Adam and a super 3 points gained but my god, the squad looks thin. We really need some huge luck with injuries this season or some quick signings, particularly as I hear Rowe could be out for a while.
Yeah great Niggle game to start ... really like playing Casuals and their support is fun
For me some good performances and won't replicate the above comments
For me Jack Harris isn't there ... holding the ball up for Roderi but I have similar worries about him as well . Both never looked dangerous , I am not sure about Roderi and I have never been sure about Harris at anytime , sadly as he is lovely bloke ..
We don't look dangerous at front , early days but I hope Billy will make the difference . Sam played well today , Bradley with some lovely passes and thought but nothing connecting for him.
I am unsure about Harris , maybe it will never happen again ?
I thought Jack Harris looked off the pace today but it's game one and when injuries weren't causing him grief last season, he looked really good. Johnno was non stop again - still shake my head in gratitude that he remains with us. Defence and midfield looks good but did wonder why Billy Medlock didn't get a run out. Hope Olly Rowe's back soon. Well done U's. Good display.
Great result, pretty decent entertainment and probably just a little fortunate to take all three points. Ironically we went in two up after they had rather dominated both possession and territory. Equally ironically I thought we were much the better team second half......and then they scored.....then it was the normal backs to the wall stuff.
Aziaya and Vickers both looked good to me (just as well if Ollie's out for a bit) and the likes of Simon, Crutts and Jack D. put in a lot of work. As this was my first visit this season, there were still a lot of very unfamiliar faces and I will reserve judgement for the time being.
Biggest disappointment for me was Jack Harris. He just seemed completely off the pace today and I could see no reason to keep him on for the last quarter. In fact his performance today rather reminded me of Bright Temba's last match.
All in all though, reasonably encouraged by what I saw.
What is it pick on jack harris day lol. For me he done well held the ball up for someone to run past got in good spaces and also worked his arse off up front. This is what I like about jack he's a team player.
It was a good result and for 60 mins we were ok and looked comfortable. But the really worrying aspect for me was once CC got a grip on the game in the last 30 minutes Adam either didn't know what to change or as I suspect didn't have the players to change the game, 2/3 players are urgently required if we are to get the 100 Points we will need. I fear without additional players we will be play offs at best.
I have never seen a player recover so quickly as the guy who screamed in agony to get Jack booked in the second half. I thought the Casuals faked injury all through the game and the ref bought it every time. I despair of football when a team that had an ethos as Casuals have had resort to diving and screaming. Rant over. I think Adam did the right thing with Jack yesterday as he needs game time to sharpen up. The guy played though injury for us last season and I for one will give him time to recover his game. Pleased with three points and the performance of the team.
-- Edited by FatherXmas on Sunday 13th of August 2017 08:04:57 AM
Have to agree with Wayne personally ...thought that Jack Harris worked his socks off and won a lot in the air . Also , their keeper made two outstanding saves in the second half . We could easily have been 4-0 up at that stage. Thought Davide. played well too ... he's got great movement off the ball. Made himself a couple of half chances which he will take in time ... I was actually generally surprised how well we played actually and predicted a defeat . So I'm well happy . What a shocking ref again though... some things never change . Awful decisions made for both sides ... they simply have the ability to kill a game ! Which he did from start to finish . Great goals by Jack Dixon too ...great to have him back. I thought our midfield looked very good . Yeah impressed !
Refereeing display as bad as any we will see. He seemed to have it in for Jack H who he penalised throughout the game while waving play on every time Jack was fouled. Casuals 4 is presumably out for the rest of the season after his seemingly never ending run of serious injuries throughout the game.
Thought there was a marked improvement in the defensive effort in comparison with last season and the whole back four (five, including Climpson) plus midfield deserve great credit for that. You can go a long way simply by making the opposition work for everything, and apart from a free header at a corner late on, there was nothing left unchallenged and no point at which someone dozed off during a spell of really intense pressure. That diligence also meant that the referee didn't have any penalty decisions to make, and I don't doubt that he would've given anything had the opportunity arisen.
I'm also in the minority who saw a lot of good in Jack Harris's contribution. For me, he worked really hard in a role that's never going to look terribly flattering: holding the ball up, bringing others into play, dragging the team up the pitch. It's clear that he isn't going to contribute many goals, especially given that there's little width and therefore few crosses to attack, but he contributed much to the team effort. And that win, with a little good fortune to help it along, was very much a team effort.
with 4 goals and Johnson and Harris with 3 goals.